Hapless people driven out of Konkan railway station

the goan I network

MARGAO 

Around 100 hapless people comprising the jobless, destitute, beggars and stranded passengers literally landed on the roads outside the Margao railway station after they were all driven out from the Konkan railway premises on Tuesday morning.

While many a good samaritan later arranged food and water for them, the district police and the administration were on the job to accommodate these people in a destitute home at Chinchinhim and other such homes.

Incidentally, Konkan Railway Corporation Deputy General Manager, PR, Baban Ghatge, however, maintained that these people were not driven out of the KRC premises, but were asked to leave considering the curfews and lockdown in force.

These hapless citizens were all believed to have taken shelter in the Konkan railway premises for varied reasons. While some of these people have been left stranded at the station due to no rail service to take them home, the other homeless lost their jobs due to the lockdown and were asked to leave.

Destitute and beggars were also part of the group and had nowhere to go before many a good samaritan lit smiles on their faces by arranging food and drinking water.

A local resident Tauseef de Navelim said that some of the locals arranged food for these people after being moved over by their plight. “At this juncture, we all made the arrangements for these people on humanitarian grounds since they had nowhere to go. We will discuss with the authorities concerned on how to accommodate them since they cannot travel to their native places”, he said.

One of the persons, who hails from Ahmedabad, said he had come down to Goa for business purpose, before he was caught in the curfews and lockdown. “Since I was supposed to leave for my native place by train, I had no option but to hang around at the railway station,” the stranded passenger said.

Superintendent of Police, South Arvind Gawas, meanwhile, told The Goan that the police immediately coordinated with other agencies and have decided to shift the around 40-odd people to the destitute home at Chinchinim, adding that arrangements are being worked out to house the remaining people.